Chapter 1 - Gone

The feeling of the sun caressing my face, the flowers dance along with the wind, the sound of rustling leaves echo throughout the village. I open my eyes to this feeling as I sit upright from my bed, it made me feel calm and happy. I grow a smile as I looked out the bedroom window,seeing the adults work, and the children play. I take a deep breath while I stretch to begin the day. I jumped out of bed and clothed myself. In a gleeful mood, I run back to the window and decided to greet the day.

"Good Morning Everyone!!!"

I yell with the top of my lungs, catching the attention of a few Half-Dragons walking by my house. I let out a quiet giggle as I quickly turned around and went to the bedroom of my parents. I quietly turned the doorknob and entered the room. I see my still-asleep parents on the bed; they usually get up by themselves because of work, but I decided I should wake them up this time. I sneak on top of the bed, carefully avoiding any contact to wake them up. I get in between them and jumped up and down. "Get Up! Get Up!" I exclaimed. What I did both scared, and shocked mom and dad. I knelt down on the blanket as I saw my parent's faces. Dad looked so angry while Mom giggled. I couldn't help myself but giggle a little too.

"Good Morning Mileena"

"Morning Mommy!"

My mom says quietly as I excitedly respond. She let out a kind smile as I looked at her. I turned around to greet my dad, but unfortunately he went back to sleep. My mom got up from the bed and looked at me as I stayed and sat there. "Why don't we prepare breakfast? For Daddy?" She whispers quietly as she leaned closer to me. I nod energetically and jumped off the bed, following my mom into the kitchen. She went to prepare the ingredients for the food she was going to make and I helped set up the table. She turned to me as she was about to start cooking. "Mileena, I forgot, could you be a dear and get those Beetroots I asked for from your uncle?" She says in a calm manner. I nod and went out of the house and went to the nearby house that Uncle Ymir owns.

I knock on the door and waited for a response. The door opened and revealed an old but strong Half-Dragon.

"Good Morning Uncle Ymir!"

"Ah! Mileena!"

Uncle Ymir gave me a slight rub on the head as I giggled from the feel. "Stop! That tickles!" I say out loud. "I know, that's why I do it every time I see you! Now,what does my little niece want with her Uncle this early?" He asks as he crouched down and picked me up. Overcome with laughter, I couldn't get the words out properly. After a few seconds, I settled down to answer what Uncle asked. "Ah! I came to get the Beetroots mommy asked for." I replied as my tail wagged uncontrollably. "Ah Those, they are right over there" He pointed. "Say,why don't I help you carry them? I can stop by and enjoy my sister's cooking once in a while." He offered.

"Sure! That would be fun!" I respond gleefully as I jumped from excitement. We then carried 3 baskets of Beetroot towards my house. As we were walking towards my house I saw in the distance figures moving towards our village. "Hey Uncle Ymir? What are those?" I pointed out with my tail. He notices it and dropped the baskets.

"Get to your mom's house,and call your parents, quick."

"But what's going on Uncle Ymir?"

"Just go,okay? I'll catch up"

I was slightly worried from Uncle Ymir's expression and did what he told me. I quickly ran inside and looked for my mom. She and my dad were sitting on the table. "What's wrong dear?" She said in a slightly worried expression. "Uncle Ymir told me to call you." I replied in a confused tone. After I finished what i said, they looked at each other. Dad quickly went to the door while mom went and picked me up. They seemed panicked as dad closed the windows. I look around as mom and dad seemed to be trying to hide from something. Dad moved the carpet and opened a trapdoor leading to a storage room below. Mom and I went down the door with no time to spare. Before Dad closed the door, Mom and him whispered something to each other. I could not make out what they were trying to say as I was too busy trying to figure out what's going on. Soon after, Dad closed the door and covered it up. Mom sat me down on a chair as she knelt down in front of me.

"No matter what happens,stay quiet okay?"

She said to me in a quiet,but saddened tone as I felt her hand shaking on my lap. I nod in agreement, yet still having no clue as to what is going on. Soon after, a loud thud was heard in our house along with many heavy footsteps. Mom looked up as if what was upstairs were monsters. She quickly looked at me and took off her necklace. She placed it on my hand and grasped it. "This will keep you safe..." She kissed my forehead as the footsteps went near where the trapdoor was. My mom quickly picked me up and placed me in a crate. "I love you my sweet Mileena..." She says as tears dropped down her cheeks. The trapdoor flew open and 3 men with armor came inside. Mom covered the crate I was in, concealing me. The crate muffled most of the noise but I could still make out some of what they were saying.

"Aw, a sweet demi-human couple...Is this what you were trying to hide, filth?"

"Please, just let us go...We did no wrong!" That was the voice of my dad and the voice of someone I have never heard of...

"Do you really think we would just let you go? Load the man up in the carriage, he may deem worthy as a slave, and the woman...Load her up with the rest. We may have fun with her later." A couple of voices laughs as the sound of struggles my mom and dad made slowly faded away. However,the man and a couple of others stayed behind. "Destroy the whole village, we are done here." The man spoke to the others as it seemed like they were walking off.

In complete fright and sadness, I stayed still in the box for a while ass I listened to the sound of loud crashes and thuds echoing throughout the whole room. After a while,the noise stopped, and I calmed down. I open the box to be met with a cloud of dust. I swipe away the dust and walked to the trapdoor. I tried to open it but there seemed to be something blocking it. I tried again, this time, I used all my strength to open it. Success! I opened the door upstairs, only to be revealed with rubble and small flames. I felt a small heat in the air. I climbed the pile of rubble which was my home and saw something that scarred me. The whole village...Destroyed, engulfed in a fire. Bodies of my people scatter the roads as their blood painted the grass. I knelt down as a stream of tears ran down my dirty face.

All that I know...My home, my friends, my family. Everything and everyone I loved. It is all...

"Gone..."